Wave motor



H. TIDWELL WAVE MOTOR July 19, 1932.

Filed Aug. 18. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY WITNESS;

July 19, 1932. TIDWELL 1,867,780

WAVE MOTOR Filed Aug. 18, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l A 13 50667 8 YZ'ZZMGZZ INVENTOR mam. was? 7 ATTORNEY Patented July 19, 1932 I UNITED STATES meme HUBERT TIDWELL; or ennnnnrvnn, UTAH UWAVVE M02003 Application filed August 18, 1sao. Serial in. 476,167. f

This inventionrelates to a wave motor, the general object of the invention being to provide a float having forwardly extending arms ments of some of the pontoons from interfering withthe transmission of the movements 15 of other pontoons.

Another object of the invention is "to provide means whereby the float can be moved to place the pontoons in the direction the waves are coming.

vide means for admitting water to the pontoons when it'is desired to weight the same,

such for instance, as when the waves are of considerable height and it isdesirable to limit the vertical motion of the pontoons. V

This invention alsoconsists incer'tain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement oftheseveral parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out: in the appendedclaims.

' In describing the invention in detail, reference will behad to the accompanying draw- "ings wherein like characters denote like 'or corresponding parts throughout the several views, andin which V 1 s Figure 1 is a top plan view of theinvention.

ratchet means.

Figure 6 is a section on line 6-6. of Figure 5. i v Figure 7 is a sectionon line 7- 7 of Figure 6.

A further. object of the invention is to pro- Figure 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig- *Figure Sis asection on line 88 of Figurel. 7 71 w Figure 9 '1 is a diagrammatic plan view showing how the float can be'adjusted to position the'pontoons according to the direction of the waves. i Intheseviews, the numeral 1- indicates a float having its wave side stepped as shown, with the 'endsof the-floatyadjacent the shore 7 side connected bythe cables 2 and 3 with the stationary supportsl. The cable 2 has both ends connected with the float and said cable passes over a pulley '5 connected" with the, support 4 and the cable 3 passes overthe v forward and rearwardpulleysfi on the; other '65 supports 4'and zgis'turned about the drum 7 which is provided with a handle'8; Thus by turning the drum, thecable 3 will move that s end of the float to which it isattached either away from the shore or toward the shore, '7

according to th-e'direction the drum is turned, as shown in Figure 9,-so as to place the stepped side'of'the float in the direction the waves are cominga F orwardly extending arms 9 are connected with the stepped side of the float and a shaft 10 is journaled in that pair of-the arms which n are connectedat one step of the float. "A second shaft'lO is j'ournaled in the same pair of arms and extends to-the jnext arm in mediate arms and-is spaced inwardly from the shaft 10 and a shaft 10" is journaled in 85. the three arms which are connected at another step ofthe float so that the shafts are tiallywe'dgeshape andje ach pontoon is com'- I posed of anumberof sections formed with flanges 11f at their ends, with the flanges of "the abutting'sections suitably connected to-' gether, Each pontoon is also provided with y a manhole 12 covered by a lid 13 and each being arranged adjacent each arm so that the 7 water can be removed from the lid 3 and placing the end of the suctionpipe Of course of the pump into the pontoon.

pontoon in any other desired manner.

A loop-shaped arm 15 is fastened at its lower end to each end of each pontoon and the side portions of each arm are-offset from each other and provided with the teeth 16 on their inner faces. The racks formed by the toothed portions of each arm engage the pair of sprockets 17 rotatably arranged between a pair of'hub portions 18 on the before mentioned shafts and said shafts have keyed or. otherwise fastened thereto the toothed members 19, one ofwhich is arranged be tween each pair of hubs 18 and within each pair of sprockets. Rollers-20 are arranged inthe spaces formed by the teeth of the member '19 and each sprocket 17. Thus the sprockets, the members 19 and the-.rollers form over-run clutches. As shown in Figure 1, the shaft 10 has one of these clutches at each end thereof and the other shaftswhich are journaled in three of the arms have two pairs of these sprockets thereon, one clutch racks 'of the'arms of'each pontoon will engage 'a pair of these clutches.

As will be seen, as the pistonmoves-upwardly, one rack of each arm 15 thereof will turn one of the sprockets 17 of each pair of clutches associated with said pontoon and i the other rack of each arm will turn the other sprocket of each clutch. Thus it will be seen 7 that on the upward movement of each pontoon, the clutches will impartmovement to the shaft from one pair vof rack members, while the sprockets engaged by the second pair of'racks are idling on the members 19. Then on the downward movement of the pontoon, the clutches will impart movement to the shaft from the second pair of racks, while the sprockets engaged by the first pair are idling on the members 19. The arms 15 extend upwardly and inwardly at an angle so that eachpontoon isin advance of the shaft which it operates soas to facilitate the transmission of the motion ofthe pontoon to the shaft and swinging movement of the arms 15 is prevented by the rollers 21 carried by the uprights 22 on the arms 9 and engaging the forward sides of the arms 15.

The outer ends of the shafts 10 are connected by the gears 23 with a shaft 24 journaledin the brackets 25- connected with the longend of thefloat andthe shafts 10 and 10*, are connected by the gears 26 with a shaft 27;.journaled in-the float. The shafts .24 and 26 are connected by the gears 28 with a shaft 29 rotatably supported adjacent the short side of the float, the gears on said shaft moving pontoon.

and 19 2 29 being connected with the shaft by the overrun clutches 30. The power is taken off of this shaft 29 in any desired manner, the drawings showing the shaft as being provided with a pulley 31 which may be connected by a belt to the mechanism to be driven by the movements of the pontoons.

Thus it will seen that both the upward and downward movement of the pontoons under the action of the waves will be trans- 'mitted tothe shaft 29 by the combined ratchet means and over-run clutches and that the over-run clutches prevent'a slower mov ment of one pontoon from interfering with thetra nsm'ission of movement of a faster The arrangement of the pontoons will cause them to reduce the height of the waves before such waves strike. the float and the shape of the pontoons causes them to readily ride over the waves. In or:

'derto prevent the pontoons from riding down the rear part of a wave, 1 provide each pontoon with a pair of depending flanges 32, these flanges also acting to steady the pontoons in their Vertical movement.

The stepped arrangement of the pontoons permits each wave to act on the forward pontoons at different times and the first pontoon of each set is acted on by the full force of the wave, while the second pontoon of each set is acted on by the wave after the same has acted. on the first pontoon of the set. I 1 v p i As before stated, the float can be adjusted to place the pontoons'in a-position where they will receive the full force of the waves,

irrespective of the direction of the waves.

7 Attention is called to the fact that by having the arms 15 extend upwardly and in wardly atan angle, the pontoons are permittedhorizontal or lateralmovement so anism, so that power is secured both by the vertical movements of the pontoons and the horizontal or lateral movements thereof.

It. is thought from the foregoing descriptionthat the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changesmay be made in the construction and in the com bination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is V 1. A wave motor of the kind described comprising stationary supports, a float having a stepped portion and adjustably connected to the supports, a plurality of pontoons arrangedat thev stepped'portionand correspondingly thereto in echelon fashion, and means for transmitting up and down movement to the pontoons under the action of said motor, said means including ratchet means and overrun clutches.

2. A Wave motor of the kind described comprising stationary supports, a floathaving a stepped portion and adjustably' connected to the supports, a plurality of pon- V toons arranged at the stepped portion and correspondingly thereto in chelon fashion, and means for transmitting up and down movement to the pontoons under the action of Waves to mechanism to be actuated from said motor, said means including ratchet means and overrun clutches, said pontoons in their arrangement being located in the chelon fashion in pairs excepting at one end of the float.

3. A Wave motor comprising stationary supports, a float having a stepped portion, means operable at one of the supports for adjusting the floats relative to said supports, a plurality of pontoons arranged in chelon at the stepped portion correspondingly thereto, a shaft on the float, means operable upon up and down movements of the pontoons and 5 having connection with the shaft for transmitting motion therefrom to mechanism to be driven thereby.

4. A Wave motor comprising stationary supports, a float having a stepped portion,

means operable at one of the supports for adjusting the floats relative to said supports, a plurality of pontoons arranged in chelon at the stepped portion correspondingly thereto, a shaft on the float, means operable upon up and down movements of the pontoons and having connection With the shaft for transmitting motion therefrom to mechanism to be driven thereby, and means on the pontoons to permit admission of Water g0 thereto for varying the Weights of said pontoons. y

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa ture.

HUBERT TIDWELL. 

